Iraqi PM Reopens Controversial Newspaper (al-Sadr's)

[Robbien]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's interim prime minister issued a decree allowing a controversial newspaper to reopen after it had been closed by U.S. officials in March, setting off months of fighting between U.S. forces and militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The weekly Al-Hawza was the mouthpiece of al-Sadr's ``Sadrist'' movement, routinely carrying his fiery sermons on its front page along with articles sharply critical of the U.S.-led occupation, which formally ended June 28.

Iraq's former American governor, L. Paul Bremer, ordered the newspaper closed for two months on March 28 for allegedly inciting violence against coalition troops.

Bremer's closure order expired May 28, but al-Hawza's editor in chief, Abbas al-Robai, has said that trying to resume publication then could have exposed the newspaper's editorial staff to arrest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4324370,00.html